Morning call was at 630am. But mum & dad was oredi wake by 4am...Cos the sun rises reali early, and they thot it was late oredi... Unlike Singapore, it was still dark at 7am after the corridor lights were switched off. It was reali bright in China at 5am oredi... So i woke up reali early too... Heard day time was long, night was short.. But in winter time, day is short, night is long. We got ready very early and packed up, cos we r leaving the hotel oredi...

Placed our lugguages outside our bedroom door, and we went down for breakfast ard 715am cos got to gather at 8am. After our tour guide collected our room keys, checked everything, we left the hotel and continue our journey.

Our tour group consists of a Chinese couple (Ah Huat uncle & Auntie Nai), Indonesian family (Mr & Mrs Ng & 3 daughters, Ivory...), Taiwan family (Mr Zhuang wif his wife, mother-in-law & his wife's sister-in-law), China family from Shenyang (Mr Lee & Mrs Lee, son, daughter and mother, mother-in-law) & of cos us! Total of 5 families.

Had an hour's bus ride again, to 苏州市凯地丝绸有限公司 to 'see' silkworms, life of silkworms and how they create silk strings which in turn becoming silk quilts.... Of cos again, 两位导游 wan us to buy the 蚕丝被 。。。Which is reali expensive. For a quilt, it costs 450RMB = almost S$90 which is without cover for a single/ queen size. The cover costs at least 1080RMB = S$200, which totals up to be almost $250 for the 蚕丝被。。。

Bought a silk blanket, and my parents wan to get a whole set, so might as well, get the pillows and pillow covers. Haiz!!! After letting us buy the stuff for almost 1.5hrs, they brought us to a room for fashion show. Displaying the silk clothings by the company. Next to the silk shop for shopping. Can buy the clothes which the models displayed. Anyway, nothing much...so expensive yet nothing to buy. Jus got some silk ties for Nick, which is only 40RMB. haha... First time i heard of using shampoo to wash silk cloth...

Finally after shopping at the silk company, wewent to a restaurant beside it for lunch at 11am. After lunch, we bid goodbye to our 地陪, 小张 as we are leaving 苏州 and proceeding to 南京。。。 Its yet another 3hrs bus ride from 苏州 to 南京。。。

We reach 南京 at abt 230pm...小董 met up with yet another 南京 地陪，吴老师。。。 He is from 南京大学 的 教授, if i m not wrong.. Haha... Cos he reali speaks alot of China history, especially history of 朱元璋 the moment he boarded the bus... Which i tink sounds like his 偶像。。。haha... He brought us to 大明孝陵神功圣德碑楼 (Tablet tower of the Ming tomb)。。。Again the whole history lesson begins...

In old times, ppl who made the stone bricks, had to carve their name and address, cos if the emperor's sword can cut in, he will have the whole family of the brick maker killed. If the sword breaks, while the brick is good, then the family of the sword maker will be killed. So either way, the somebody's family is gonna to haf their heads rolled!!!

Saw a huge turtle carrying a big stone tablet. Maybe u might haf heard b4 the story, when a turtle is crossing a river, someone wanted to punish it, and turned it to a stone, making the turlte drown. I cant remember the story oredi, jus sounds familiar... After 45 mins of bus ride, we reached 南京大桥。。。Saw a very big 毛泽东 statue... Then went up a very old lift to the top of 南京大桥 which is the building beside the road... After that went to a 'hall' and again story again from 吴老师。。。Funny, whenever our tour guide is telling us stories, some other ppl will jus join in the listen too...haha...

Then he brought us to a shop at the ground floor to see art paintings from a famous 师父。。。 He said we were lucky that the 师父 is ard that day, so tat we could see how he actuali paints from inside of a crystal ball, with a small opening, drawn opposite direction, yet the picture looks normal from the outside. He say if we wan to take foto of the 师父, pls turn off the flash, cos it will disturb his eye sight to continue drawing.

Again, shopping time for half an hour then we proceeded for our dinner at 545pm after another 45 mins ride AGAIN!!! After dinner, we went to 中华门。。。Agin abt 朱元璋 history. Its a 城门, 好像我们Singapore 的 唐城 有很多的兵马墉。。。After some foto taking, we went to 秦淮河 shopping. Free & easy time for abt 1 hr again...

After gathering at 830pm, we went back hotel oredi. Reached hotel in another 1 hour's time AGAIN!! Waste time again...

Ended the day's program after 秦淮河 shopping... So early again...

To be cont'd.... :P